[S7E4] I'm A Little Bit Country
When Mr. Garrison agrees to let anyone protesting the war out of school early for a rally, all the kids pretend to care about the cause so as to get out of school early, even though they know little to nothing about the war. Some of the townspeople are protesting against the war, while others are supporting it. While the rest of the school races to enjoy their day off, the boys lag behind to watch the protest and end up being interviewed for their views on what the Founding Fathers would think about the protests and the war in Iraq that the protests were about.
[S7E4] I'm a Little Bit Country
While both protests rage on, Benjamin Franklin shows up and announces that he believes the new country must not seem to be a war-monger to the rest of the world, but it cannot appear to be weak either. Therefore, it must go to war but allow protests, thereby acting like it does not want war. He refers to this as "saying one thing and doing another". One member refers to this as "having our cake and eating it too". Having learned what the Founding Fathers would say, Cartman wakes up at the hospital and goes to the town square protest to tell them what he learned. Meanwhile, both sides decide to use Stan and Kyle's project to justify their opinion about the war. However, when on stage, they admit that they didn't do their homework. Another argument erupts, but Cartman arrives and tells the town what he learned in the colonial era about America saying one thing and doing another, and how the system works.
When Mr. Garrison agrees to let anyone protesting the war in Iraq out of school early for a rally, all the kids say that they are against the war and then leave, even though they know little about the war, terrorists, or the founding fathers. The boys are interviewed outside the school and are asked for their opinion on what the Founding Fathers would think about the conflict and show their ignorance by not knowing who the founding fathers were. Angered by the embarrassment, Mr. Garrison gives them an assignment to decide what the Founders would say about the war.
Back in Cartman's 1776 flashback, Benjamin Franklin shows up and proposes that the new country must not be seen as a warmonger by the rest of the world; at the same time, it must not be seen as weak either. Therefore, the United States will go to war on one hand, and use protests to oppose the war on the other. He refers to this as saying one thing and doing another. One member refers to this as "having our cake and eating it too".
The boys get caught in the middle of a conflict between pro-Iraq War and anti-Iraq War advocates and have to write a report about what the Founding Fathers would think about the war."I'm A Little Bit Country" contains examples of: Breaking the Fourth Wall: The entire cast (minus Stan, Kyle, and Kenny) thank the audience for celebrating the show's 100th episode.
Counterpoint Duet: Between Randy (anti-war) and Skeeter (pro-war). The song was reprised at the episode to show that they had reconciled.
Field Trip to the Past: Invoked by Cartman to find out what the Founding Fathers would say.
Flashback Effects: Cartman tries to have a flashback by repeating his words and pantomiming with his hands.
Golden Mean Fallacy: Half of the town opposes the war in Iraq, while the other half supports it. Cartman believes he has the right answer, that America needs both groups. The pro-war people to support America's wars are needed so America looks like a strong country, but also the anti-war people to oppose these wars so America looks like a compassionate country. Both sides are happy with this answer, because it basically means the war will continue, and the anti-war crowd gets to continue protesting.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The boys pretend to be against the war so they can get out of school and goof off. They are instantly drafted into actually protesting by Mr. Mackie, asked serious questions on live television by a reporter, only to say they have no idea who the founding fathers even are on air. The boys are humiliated on TV, a furious Mr. Garrison yells at them for lying about being against war just to get out of school, then punishes them for their ignorance by assigning them a report on the founding fathers.
Hypocritical Humor: Early in the episode the boys imply that they have no idea who the Founding Fathers are when they're asked about their views about the Iraq War during a walkout, later they are harshly reprimanded by Mr. Garrison for not knowing anything about the Founding Fathers, considering the fact that he's never taught them anything about history.
Some war protesters break into an electronics store and steal TVs.
Kenny is berated by his pro-war father for hanging out at Stan's and is pulled away from the study group. Gerald and Randy express disgust over Stuart convincing Kenny to side with him and then push their kids to participate in the war protest by reading their essay.
The punchline of the episode is how everyone concludes that America works best when it runs on hypocrisy, protesting the war but going ahead with it anyway.
Laborious Laziness: Cartman goes through a lot of effort to avoid actually studying.
My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: America is described as "an entire country founded on saying one thing and then doing another."
Non-Standard Character Design: The people of 1776 in Cartman's dream are drawn way more realistic than how everyone on the show is drawn.
Opinion-Changing Dream: Cartman acts as if he doesn't care about American history so that he can have a flashback. He elaborately stages incidents that would render him unconscious so that he can have the educational dream and thereby avoid the bother of actually studying. He eventually succeeds, but not before...
Special Guest: Norman Lear as Benjamin Franklin.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Cartman's first few attempts at flashbacks, such as basically talking about 1776, and then dropping a big rock on his head while talking about 1776 lead to a bruise on his head. Subverted later when he deliberately electrocutes himself after recording history shows off the TV. He ends up unconscious in hospital, but amazingly it works.
When the kids here can either stay in school and do work or leave school for the day in protest, they choose to leave school treating it like a day off. However they weren't let out to go goof off, they were let out to protest. When the kids leave school, they are drafted into protesting.
This Is My Side: When the town attempts to split themselves into pro-war and anti-war halves, they almost immediately find that certain needs of theirs are on the other side of the line they just made, and Skeeter concludes, "What we really should be doing is just beatin' the hell out of each other like we were."
What Year Is This?: After Cartman is told by the official messenger boy that it is 1776, he realizes that his plan worked.
2) The country. Between Bobby's school trip and Margaret's fleeing, we've spent more time outside the city this season than ever before. You know how people always say Manhattan was the fifth lady in Sex and the City? Well, it's a character in Mad Men as well, and over the past two seasons, the show has begun to paint its downfall alongside other human characters' implosions. Portraying the country as preferable is just another blow. Long story short: Nature is a great tool for stripping the show's power mongers of their clout (Roger's suit is ruined!), and I bet we're not done watching that face-off.
Val: I think I'm in. I think I'm in! They do have a newborn, so I'm giving them a little space before we, like, hang out but he did confirm on Twitter that he was accepting my friend contract.
So a lot of the classic work in economics on stratification had to do with that. And, standing there in the classroom, I was a little bit, you know, taken aback by the fact that there was no mention, not no mention, but you know, a disproportionately, like, less talking about institutions. About how the government sets rules that facilitate or impede these types of stratification patterns from happening. Of history. You know, the fact that segregation was legally enforced in many areas of the country during the first half of the 20th century. And it just seemed like a very important piece.
Tomás: Oh, well, I actually went to schools in El Paso, Texas. So in El Paso, Texas it's a little bit less about racial segregation because it's essentially everybody is of Hispanic background in that city.
Andrew: Yeah. So, where I first became aware of your work was your project on the Segregation Contribution Index, and so, I'd love to talk about that a little bit. And I wonder if we start, you can just sort of explain, you know, what it is, and then we can maybe talk about why, you know, that sort of as a, as a way of reframing how we think about segregation, why it's important.
Tomás: Sure. I mean, I couldn't totally claim that they're doing the work because they've seen my data. I think they have seen my data, and hopefully it helped them kind of understand segregation in their district a little bit more. But yes, I know, you know. For example, uh, San Francisco Unified School District just passed a new school assignment system, that is way more focused on integration. I know a little bit less about the details of their plan, but I think in San Antonio, independent school districts in Texas, they're trying to do a move for sustainable public school integration over there.
In this next piece, we were focusing more on the policies that drive these patterns, right? So, as you probably know, most public schools in the country operate using school attendance boundaries. Or, I think they're also called catchment zones or attendance zones. They have different names in different places, right? 041b061a72